Smell ya later, lame-o!
by AppleJTZ
Summary: Having moved away from Royal Woods, Ronnie Anne feels a little home-sick. Luckily, she has a friend who keeps her up to date with everything going on in her old home-town (and his life).
1. Prologue

_Beep_

Raising his head from his comic, Lincoln looked over to the laptop on his desk. In the bottom corner of the screen, the request for a video chat had popped up. As he saw the avatar of the user, he immediately smiled. Throwing the comic to the side he got off his bed, quickly putting on some pants and a shirt before he accepted the request. A window popped up, showing a familiar girl in her room.

"Hey Ronnie-Anne" Lincoln greeted her as he sat down at his desk. "What's up?"

The girl in the purple hoodie shrugged. "Just bored. Everyone's busy with something right now. Bobby and grandpa are in the store sorting stuff, and Carl is trying to show them he can carry more than Bobby. Grandma and Aunt Frida are making dinner, which means grandma's making dinner while Aunt Frida makes photos of the food. Carlotta is watching Carlito and CJ, Uncle Carlos has his head in his books again, and mom is out for a walk with Lalo and Sergio."

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "I get Lalo, but do parrots need to be taken for a walk?"

"No, but she wanted to get Sergio away from Bobby – keeps bugging him for some reason. So, here I am, with nothing to do but sit around in my room. Got anything interesting to tell me?"

After pondering for a moment, Lincoln shook his head. "Not really. Things have been rather quiet here-"

Suddenly, a loud explosion from Lisa's room could be heard in the entire house, followed by the sounds of Luna's guitar, Lynn's basketball bouncing through the hallway and Lola's car riding down the stairs.

Lincoln cleared his throat. "Well, relatively quiet."

Ronnie Anne chuckled. "I know what you mean. Someone's always making noise over here, too – hard to believe Saturday mornings used to be quiet for me."

Putting hios arm on the desk Lincoln leaned forward. "So, having accustomed to your life in a big family yet?"

"I'm still not completely used to it, but it's getting better." She looked around the little room that was her own. "Just trying not to think about how I went from having a whole house for myself most of the day to living in a closet." Getting a little closer to the webcam, she took a look around Lincoln's room through the webcam. "Come to think of it, your room also used to be a closet, right?"

"A laundry closet – sometimes, I can still find a clothespin lying around somewhere. But it's my own, so I can't really complain."

"Yeah, it's better than sharing room with my mother, I guess."

"Does she snore?"

"Worse, she is hoarding the blanket. AND she is rollin around all night, taking all the space!"

"Well, giving you your own room was really sweet of your family. And honestly, I'm kind of jealous of the fridge."

"Oh yeah, that's pretty neat!" With a swing of her leg, Ronnie Anne kicked the fridge open, and took out a popsicle.

"And how's life in the city treating ya?" Lincoln asked, leaning back in his chair.

Ronnie Anne sucked on her popsicle for a moment, before it popped out of her mouth. "Not much different from Royal Woods, actually. Though there are some things I had to get used to – like trying to get past the gang of cats when I go to school and on my way back home." She pulled up her sleeve, revealing some claw marks. "Guess I still have to practice that."

Though they were minor, the sight of her wounds made Lincoln cringe slightly. "Ouch! Well I hope you have better luck next time. By the way, how is your new school? Made any friends already?"

She rolled up her sleeve again. "Not really. Guess I'll need some time to settle in." She put her popsicle back into her mouth, and rolled it around in her mouth.

"Don't worry – they'll like you once they got to know you" Lincoln assured her. After thinking about it however, he added: "Just, um… try not to be TOO much yourself in the beginning."

Ronnie Anne frowned. "Thanks for the advice" she said, tossing her empty popsicle-stick away. "Hey, could you do me a favor and punch your arm for me?"

"Hard pass" he replied, both kids cracking a smile at each other. Lincoln however noticed the face of his friend was looking a little more thoughtful than usual.

"So anything new at our… I mean your school?" she returned his question.

His gaze wandering to the ceiling Lincoln pondered. "The same stuff as always" he eventually told her. "Boring math lessons, weird cafeteria food, and Rusty trying to land with some girl."

Ronnie Anne snickered. "Who was the unlucky one this time?"

"I'm not sure – I only saw his crestfallen look after school and didn't ask." Staring straight at her Lincoln cocked his head. "I didn't know you were interested in that kind of rumors."

Ronnie Anne shrugged. "Nah, I guess I'm just curious. I've been seeing this school and all those people almost everyday for years, and now… well, now I don't see them anymore."

It was then Lincoln what was wrong with her. "Do you miss Royal Woods?"

Slowly, she nodded. Feeling bad for his friend, Lincoln bit his lip.

"Well, you aren't too far away. You can drop by anytime on the weekend!" he suggested.

Ronnie Anne smiled, though weakly. "Thanks, but I can't just ask someone to drive me over every weekend. Also, I should really first try to settle in here instead of staying glued to my old home."

"Oh, right." There was a moment of silence, feeling somewhat uncomfortable for both of them. Suddenly, an idea struck Lincoln's mind. "Then how about I just report every time something interesting happens, at school or here in my house?"

The smile on Ronnie Anne's face grew a little bigger. "That'd be cool."

Just then, someone was calling out to Ronnie Anne from outside her room. "RONNIE ANNE, DINNER'S ALMOST READY!" they could hear the voice of her mother call out.

"Oh, mom's back" Ronnie Anne said. "Well, that's my cue."

"Yeah, dad should be about done with the goulash soon too. What do you have tonight?"

"Rather ask me what we don't have" Ronnie Anne laughed. "Grandma always is making a feast."

"Well, bon appetite!"

"Same to ya. And if anything interesting happens around your place, tell me."

"Will do."

"Alright. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	2. Out of the Picture

With her thumb and index finger, Ronnie-Anne rubbed the bridge of her nose. "So let me get this straight: Because you and Clyde forgot to sign up your ghost hunting club, you first tried to sneak into the photo shootings of other clubs, then entered the staff of the yearbook, spent almost a whole day editing yourselves into basically every single group photo, tried in a last-second attempt to get these photos into the book, but although you failed – you are totally happy about this?"

Holding the yearbook with the photo of him and Clyde mixed together into the webcam, Lincoln looked like a little kid proudly showing a crude painting to their mom. "And have you seen the title? "Clincoln McCloud" – that's so awesome!"

Letting out a sigh, Ronnie Anne shook her head. "You two sure are an odd couple…" A small chuckle slipped through her lips. "Kind of funny though you two were making such a fuss about getting into the yearbook."

Closing the book Lincoln gave her a stern and serious look. "Well duh – it's our school legacy! If we weren't in it, it'd be like we never even existed!"

"But Lincoln, it's a _year_ book – you and Clyde could have just gotten in next year!"

Lincoln was about to respond, but paused. "…Dang it."

Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes. "You really thought that one through." A little more softly, she said: "But it sure was cute what you did for your little sister."

Lincoln smiled. "Thanks. Speaking of photos, you said something about your camera-crazy aunt?"

A frown formed on Ronnie Anne's face. "Yeah. She wanted to make a new family photo with all of us…"

"That sounds nice."

"She's been going about it for three days!" it burst out of her. "Every day, she takes us out to the stairs, tells us where to stand, what pose to make, and then we all smile. But once she's made the photo, she says either the lighting was bad, or that someone blinked, or there was something in the background that doesn't fit with the "symphony of the photo", and then we have to do it all over, again and again! Yesterday, we've been at it for three hours – my mouth started to hurt from all the smiling! She probably made over a thousand photos already, but still claims there isn't one that's good enough!"

"Yikes – glad nobody in my family is that obsessed with photos."

"Well to be fair, when she says she has a good photo, it really is great." A smirk suddenly spread across her face, one of the kind Lincoln did not like. "Besides, weren't you so obsessed with your childhood photos you wanted to reenact them?"

Shocked, Lincoln stared at his friend. "W-who told you that?"

"Clyde mentioned it – he needed someone to talk to after you forced him through all kinds of costumes and situations that day." She leaned a little closer, her devious grin becoming a little wider. "Hey, you don't happen to still have that photo of you dressed up as your baby sister?"

With a blank expression, Lincoln sunk into his chair. Blood streamed into his face, making him shine bright red like a tomato. Seeing him like this, Ronnie Anne laughed out loud.

"Forget it, that look on your face right now is waaay better!" Quickly she pressed few keys on her laptop. "Screenshot, and saved! Gotta hang that on my wall. Smell ya later, lame-o!"


	3. Spell it Out

"You want me to frost a birthday cake?"

His limbs stretched out in a bizarre way Lincoln frowned. Grabbing a nearby pen and a sheet of paper he wrote something down, and showed it Ronnie Anne.

"Oh, so you lost your voice!" Ronnie said as she had read the message. "How did that happen?"

Lincoln began writing down on his paper again, Ronnie Anne giving him an odd look.

"Um, Lincoln – just use the chatroom, kay?"

Remembering he was talking over a computer to her, Lincoln blushed slightly. He opened up a chat window, and began to type. He wrote for a while, before sending off a wall of text. It took a moment for Ronnie Anne to read it all, but eventually she nodded.

"So you lost your voice by cheering on your grandfather? Hope you get better soon – though I kind of enjoy the silence, actually."

Rolling his eyes, Lincoln continued to type. Ronnie Anne waited until a new paragraph appeared in her chat window.

"And your little sister tried to curse you? Kind of mean of her – I don't believe in that stuff, but grandma does, and she doesn't go around cursing people. Also, not cool of her to tyrannize you all like that while you couldn't speak up against her."

Once more Lincoln's fingers raced across the keyboard, and shortly after a message appeared on Ronnie Anne's screen.

"Oh, so you've been ignoring her and she got frustrated because of it? Well I guess you got what you deserved then. I remember my first days here, when it felt like I was being crushed under everyone else. Can somewhat relate to her, I think."

Lincoln typed again.

"Why I'm repeating everything you write down? I don't know – just feeling like it." She leaned back in her chair. "So, Lucy… That was the one with the black hair, right? Man, it's really hard to keep track of all your sisters. Come to think of it, I never really spend much time with them, except for Lori. I'm not even sure if I know all of them by name." Placing her elbow on her desk she rested her face against her fist. "I always found that sporty one kind of cool, um… Lynn! Your little sister with the cap also seems like she's fun to hang out with. Maybe we can all play soccer or something next time I'm in Royal Woods?" Her gaze seemed to be going into the distance, her lips curling up to a somewhat ponderous smile. "You know, when Bobby told me his girlfriend had ten siblings, I couldn't imagine how anyone can live in a house with so many people. But now that I'm living with a large family myself, I must admit it's kind of nice… sure it's crazy, but you're never alone, and there's always someone there for you, to hang out with... Truth is, back when it was just me, Mom and Bobby, I actually wished sometimes for more siblings. At least having a younger sister or brother would have been cool – you know, someone who admires you, and looks up to you and-"

Suddenly, she stopped. Glancing at the screen, she saw Lincoln staring at her, the look on his face showing he was quite surprised by his friend's rather emotional monologue.

"…Call me again when you got your voice back. Looks like I start rambling when you don't interrupt me with some dumb reply. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	4. Room with a Feud

Loud laughter echoed through Lincoln's little room. However, it was not coming from himself, but from the speakers of his laptop.

"That's not funny, Ronnie Anne" the white-haired boy said seriously.

"Oh, it TOTALLY is!" she said between fits of laughter. "I mean have you looked into a mirror?" It took a long time – even longer for Lincoln – until she was finally exhausted from her laughter. Taking in a deep breath Ronnie Anne calmed down, though she still snickered occasionally. "So, your sister blew your hair away, a-and your head turned green?"

"Only a part of it. She assured me it was only temporary and gave me a hair growth serum." Raising his arms, Lincoln patted the sides of the large, curly white afro on top of his head. "Of course, she didn't tell me it was an experimental hair growth serum."

"So you ended up as her guinea pig, huh? Ouch."

"Well it's still better than the one time she tinkered with my game controller: Every time I took a hit in a game, I got an electric shock."

"Why would she do that?"

"She said she wanted to see if my performance improved – but I think her experiments really have no purpose but torturing us for her personal amusement. One time, she snuck all sorts of chemicals into our cookies. Lori's hair turned green, Lynn's face started to swell like a balloon, Lucy got polka-dots all over her face and I grew hair on my feet!"

"Was that the week when you wore those giant shoes?"

"Yes! She may have a giant brain, but sometimes I wonder if she really is right in her head. We once found her as she tried to switch out Lana's and Lola's brains while they were asleep – she wanted to see if someone noticed the difference if the twins swapped bodies."

Ronnie Anne's eyes widened. "No way!"

"It's true! Luckily, we could stop her before she cut into the skull."

Looking at Lincoln with his giant afro, Ronnie Anne giggled. "Oh man, I'm so glad I don't have a maniac like that in my family."

Suddenly, the door to her room swung open. "Oh, Ronnie-Anne! I just found this new French line of make-up in the super market for girls your age, and the moment I saw it I knew it'll look great on you! Now hold still…"

"Wait Carlotta, I'm in the middle of-"

The next thing Lincoln saw was Ronnie Anne's cousin dashing through the screen, before both of them vanished from the monitor. He could hear some weird noises, a mixture of Carlotta squealing in excitement, Ronnie Anne struggling to escape her and some undefined sounds he interpreted as Carlotta putting make-up on Ronnie Anne's face.

"Oh, you look so great!" he could hear Carlotta exclaim gleefully. "Drop by my room later and we'll do something about your clothes." Lincoln saw the teenage girl walk through the screen with a very content look on her face before leaving the room. Shortly after, Ronnie Anne reappeared, her deeply frowning face decorated by lipstick, eyeliner and a heavy layer of rouge.

His cheeks blowing up, Lincoln had to bite his lip not to laugh out loud.

"Not one word, lame-o!" Ronnie sternly commanded. It still took a moment for Lincoln to calm down, causing Ronnie Anne to sigh. "So, after that big roommate shuffle everything is back to normal in your family?"

Swallowing his laughter, Lincoln nodded. "Yep. Everyone's in their old pairs again. But to be honest, I kind of have a bad conscience about it – everyone seemed so much happier with their new roommates, and now it's the same as before."

"Well I'm sure it'll be fine. I mean, you guys are still family and all. And just because some test of your mad scientist sister says they are better off like that doesn't mean it'll always be perfect."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I can't imagine Lucy coping with Luan's jokes 24/7, or Luna staying cool when Lana's animals start crawling into her instruments. Also, now that I think about it, Lucy and Lynn once had such a big argument that Lynn moved out, but after a few days they missed each other and moved back together." He decided to keep his own involvement in this story, from his role as Lynn's new roommate to his clumsy attempts to scare her out and end their argument (which resulted in both of them bunkering his room for a night) a secret from her.

"See? They'd probably have all have moved back on their own eventually. When girls fight it can get pretty intense – but just wait for it to calm down and it's like nothing ever happened."

"I kind of feel like I've learned that lesson before." Rolling his eyes up, he could see the front of his afro towering above him. "Well, I gotta go and get a haircut – I hope the green glow won't show with shorter hair though..."

"And I need to get this French stuff out of my face. Smell ya later, Lame-o."


	5. Fool's Paradise

"A fake clown camp? Inflatable catapult dolls? A pie pit? Jelly? And she made your dad her accomplice?" Impressed, Ronnie-Anne whistled. "Man, and I thought I put a lot of effort into my pie package – your sister is radical."

"More like completely insane!" Lincoln shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. "I can't believe she played us all like this, making us run through that motel and right into her traps, predicting and guiding our every move like we were one of Lisa's lab rats!"

"Gotta give her credit though – she must have really put a lot of work and thought into this."

Falling back in his chair, Lincoln shrugged his shoulders. "I guess" he said, sighing. "I'm just glad this year, my sisters took most of the punishment."

Ronnie Anne furrowed her brows. "Don't be such a spoilsport, Lincoln – it was April Fool's day!" Looking somewhat proud, she said: "Besides, you got her back pretty good."

A shudder went through Lincoln. "Yeah, but now I'm afraid what she'll do to us next year." He leaned further back, looking up at the ceiling of his room. "You know what's weird though? She didn't really seem mad when we pranked her – well, she was MAD, crazy mad, but not _angry_ mad. She actually seemed happy about it!"

Tilting her head, Ronnie Anne scratched her chin. "Well, maybe that's what she wanted. You know, not being the only one who "celebrates" the first of April, but having someone else who she can compete with – who's a match for her."

"But no one can match her on April Fool's Day!" Lincoln yelled. "It's like she is ten time smarter than Lisa and a hundred times scarier than Lucy that day!"

"Well, you've got a year to think about how to get her back – and how she'll try to get YOU back."

Lincoln frowned. "Thanks, now I've got something to look forward to…"

She smugly smirked at him, before taking on a more serious expression again. "But let me get one thing clear: You guys all slept in the same motel room?"

Lincoln nodded.

"Your whole family in ONE room?"

"Well safe for Luan, of course."

Lifting her eyebrows, Ronnie Anne stared wide-eyed at Lincoln. "How could you stand that? Motel rooms are usually small for the number of people that are supposed to reside inside them, and you had like what, a room for two? And how many of you were there?"

"Twelve."

It was one of the few times Lincoln had ever seen Ronnie-Anne completely dumfounded. "HOW!?"

Lincoln shrugged. "We're used to it. Two or three rooms are really the most we can usually afford when staying somewhere overnight, and it's not uncommon for all of us to share one room – especially when we are forced to sleep somewhere on short notice, like this time. Sure it's cramped as heck, but somehow, we always work it out." A wide, somewhat devious smile spread across Lincoln's face. "You shouldn't be too shocked, actually – don't expect to get your own room when you and your big family go on a vacation together for the first time."

Ronnie Anne frowned. "Great, now _I_ have something to look forward to. Thanks."

"No problem" Lincoln grinned. "Oh, how about I tell you a little bit about road trips in cramped cars or going to an amusement park with over ten people?"

"Hard pass. Smell ya later, lame-o."

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: This will be the last chapter until new episodes air. I've decided to only do episodes with a higher production code than "Relative Chaos", even if they aired after it, and leave out "Back out there" since that one already ends with a video chat.**

 **Thanks to everybody who is enjoying this little fic! I hope you stay tuned for more :)**


	6. ARGGH! you for Real?

Eyes half-closed, her face leaning against her fist Ronnie-Anne looked tiredly at the screen of her laptop. She could see Lincoln angrily gesturing and talking, but the words that flowed out of his mouth like a waterfall barely reached her ears. All she could hear was him constantly repeating the words "ghost", "fake" and "waste of my life" – over and over and over again. Finally, she had enough of it: Raising herself she slammed both fists on the table.

"STOP!" Lincoln froze, looking a little surprised at his enraged friend. "Okay Lincoln, I get it: You're upset that your favorite show turned out to be fake. But you've been rambling non-stop about it for almost half an hour! Please, can we talk about something else?"

Embarrassed, Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bother you with it - I guess I just needed someone to let some steam off." Breathing a sigh, he relaxed slightly. "Phew, I feel a lot better now!"

"Why don't you talk with Clyde about it?" Ronnie-Anne asked. "I mean he must be upset too."

"Last night, he said he didn't want to talk. I haven't heard of him since then, and he doesn't answer his phone or walkie-talkie – he's probably busy with something right now." Suddenly, his eye-brows furrowed, while the corners of his mouth turned upside down. "Gosh, I can't believe it! Five seasons, and it's all been-"

"Um, Lincoln – you didn't want to talk about it anymore" Ronnie-Anne cut him off, slightly annoyed.

Lincoln blushed. "Right. Sorry. So, er, did anything interesting happen at your place?"

Leaning back in her chair, Ronnie Anne pondered for a moment. "Oh, there was this one funny story!" she said, smiling. "Grandma wanted to try out some new recipe. She needed some expansive meat for it, but when grandpa came back from the butcher, he had bought a package of sausages instead because they were on sale. Man, you should have seen how mad grandma was – actually, aunt Frieda took a photo of it, so I can show you if you want." As she looked at the screen however, Ronnie Anne noticed Lincoln wasn't paying attention to her, but gazed off with a frown. "Um, Lincoln? Are you listening?"

"Oh, sorry" Lincoln said, torn out of his thoughts. "But when you mentioned your grandma, I remembered that she has this ghost candle. That reminded me of that episode where a chandelier suddenly lit up by itself as Hunter entered an old mansion." He clenched his fists. "I was really startled when I watched it, but it were probably just some party candles, or someone flipping a switch to light them up, or-"

"Lincoln…" Squinting her eyes, Ronnie Anne looked very sternly at him.

A sheepish smile on the face, Lincoln slightly slid down in his chair. "Sorry. Again. Go on!"

Ronnie Anne took in a deep breath. "…Anyway, grandma then sent Carlota and me to get the meat. But instead of heading straight for the butcher, Carlota dragged me into some boutique. She said we had enough money to buy a new outfit for each of us first and then get the meat. I protested, but she insisted, and promised it would onyl be something small. She got completely lost in it though, and before I knew it she had forced me into some ridiculous get-up that matched hers. But she hadn't seen that the store had a "try it on buy it"-policy, so we had to pay everything she had tried on - and of course, that didn't leave enough money for the meat! Also, we forgot to change back into our old clothes and left them in the store, and the clerk didn't want to let us back in because I might have made a small commotion and got us kicked out, so – you are not listening again!"

Staring off into the distance, Lincoln turned towards the screen. "Sorry, but when you said boutique I remembered the episode in that haunted clothing store, with the flying dresses. I thought there were some threads tearing off the fabric as they flew around, but now I'm pretty sure it were just the strings they used to make them-"

"Hey, you wanna hear this or not?" Ronnie Anne asked, starting to grow angry. "I have better stuff to do but talk to myself in front of you."

"No, no, I'm listening, I promise!"

Once more, Ronnie Anne forced herself to calm down. "So, there we were, Carlota and me, completely overdressed somewhere in the city. We had to find a way to get two hundred bucks, buy the meat and then get back home before grandma started preparing dinner. Also, we had to change back into regular clothes before anyone of our family saw us and knew we - or rather Carlota - blew the money on clothes. That's when I had the idea to call Carlino and have him secretly bring Lalo to our place. I thought maybe, we could his nose to-"

"You know, I should have figured there was something wrong with the show when Lucy said she didn't like it" Lincoln suddenly cut her off, frowning again. "She's so into ghosts, she probably noticed that-"

"LINCOLN!"

Lincoln almost fell off his chair as Ronnie Anne suddenly yelled at him. For a moment, she looked like she was about to grab his neck through the screen and strangle him. But, she managed to calm herself down(more or less). "Okay, you know what? I'll hang up now. You call me again when you managed to somehow release your anger on that show – in another way than complaining to me about it!"

Intimidated, Lincoln quickly nodded. "G-guess that's for the best. Oh, I know - I'll go and delete every recorded episode on the TV!"

"Whatever. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	7. Garage Banned

" ...and though we looked like penguins in those suits, nobody in the family got suspicious, and grandma got her meat" Ronnie Anne said, finishing her story.

"Great job!" Lincoln complimented his friend for her plan. "I especially liked the part with the salmon and the paranoid taxi driver – very creative!"

"Thanks!"

"And? Was the meat worth the effort?"

Ronnie Anne crossed her arms. "Meh. The meat itself was awesome, but the recipe was a little too sophisticated for me. Also, because it was so expansive everyone only got a small slice. Grandma was worried she didn't make enough and didn't calm down for the rest of the evening. I guess she won't be making experiments in the kitchen any time soon."

"Maybe that's for the best – imagine you'd have to go through stuff like that everyday just to get dinner."

"You're right" Ronnie Anne snickered. "I'm settled with adventures in the big city for a while." She leaned back in her chair. "So, did anything interesting happen at your place lately?"

Resting his head on his fist Lincoln pondered. "Let's see… I guess Bobby told you about how Lori moved into the garage?"

"Yeah - crazy story."

"I know! To think she'd move into the garage… I get that she was a little fed up with our huge family, but still-"

He was interrupted as Ronnie Anne cleared her throat. "Actually, I meant the part about her moving back in."

Lincoln looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

She nodded. "Sure. I mean why would she want to give up her privacy and all that space? She had the whole garage for herself after all – it's not a luxury apartment, but still."

"Well as far as I understand it, she felt lonely pretty quickly, and didn't really know how to spend her time."

Ronnie Anne raised an eye-brow. "That fast? I get you feel lonely and grow bored when you are by yourself for a long time, but she didn't even last one day, and you guys were practically around the corner!"

"Consider it from her point of view" Lincoln argued. "Ever since she was old enough, she's been helping out mom and dad to take care of the rest of us, and was basically always surrounded by siblings – without that, she probably felt like something was missing."

Ronnie Anne shrugged. "I guess." Absent-minded, she stared past the screen of her laptop for a moment. "You know, I'm probably just saying this because I'm still not entirely used to living with a large family myself. In Royal Woods, while Bobby and my mom were at work, I had the house mostly for myself all day – I could jump around through all the rooms, practice kicks and summersaults indoor, be as loud as I wanted to be, and when I felt like it, just lie down on the floor and enjoy the silence." In the background, Lincoln could then hear CJ and Carl run through the apartment, followed by Carlitos screaming and Carlita yelling angrily. "…I think I miss the silence the most" Ronnie Anne said with a frown.

A grin appeared on Lincoln's face. "I know what you mean. But it probably won't be long until you start missing the noise when it's getting too quiet."

"Maybe. If we for whatever reason have to move out here again, I'll probably have to readjust, too."

"You'd probably still do a better job than Lori though."

"Yeah!" Ronnie Anne laughed, then looked at Lincoln. "Hey, what about you? You think you could handle living by yourself?"

Lincoln thought about it for a moment. "Well I have my own room already, so maybe it'd be easier for me than it was for Lori" he said. "Buuuut I think I'd end up coming back pretty quickly, too."

Ronnie Anne smirked. "Probably – I can actually see you running back after five minutes and crying for your mommy."

"Hey!"

"I'm just messin' with ya. Smell ya later, lame-o!"


	8. Job Insecurity

Her feet on the edge of her desk, Ronnie-Anne tilted forth and back in her chair. "Did that all really happen like this?" she asked skeptically. "It sounds an awful lot like that colonoscopy story you once told me."

Lincoln nodded. "Maybe I exaggerated a little here and there, but yes: We got our dad a job he didn't want and nearly ruined his dream, but in the end, he could actually start working as a chef a little earlier than he expected thanks to us."

"And all you had to do was break his boss' arm." Smirking, Ronnie Anne gave Lincoln a thumbs-up. "Nicely done!"

Blushing slightly Lincoln scratched his head. "You know what they say: Can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."

The two youths giggled. "Congrats to your dad on getting this job" Ronnie Anne said. "He must really be great in the kitchen!"

"Yeah" Lincoln agreed "I kind of feel like we didn't appreciate his cooking enough up till now."

"I should have eaten at your place sometime when I was still in Royal Woods. Now I'll probably have to pay him for a meal…"

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll give you a table for free. Also, you can just eat here with us if you come to visit."

"Say, isn't it a bit too much for your dad to cook in the evening too?" Ronnie Anne asked, still tilting in her chair as she crossed her arms behind her head. "If I were to stand in the kitchen all day, I'd be fed up with it after work."

"Dad really loves to cook" Lincoln told her. "Also, the stuff he cooks at that restaurant is very different from what he makes for us - Hawaiian-Russian food is rather special."

"What's up with Royal Woods and all that fusion food anyway? Next, they are gonna open a Greek-Japanese or Argentina-Belgian restaurant or something."

"What food would they serve in those?" Lincoln wondered.

Ronnie Anne thought about it for a moment. "Sushi on souvlaki skewers and waffles with steaks? …Hm, that actually doesn't sound that bad."

"Yeah, someone should definitely mix waffles and steaks" Lincoln agreed. "Say, what kind of restaurants do you have in the big city?"

Ronnie Anne shrugged. "Beats me – grandma always makes dinner, so we haven't been to a restaurant yet. Also, I think restaurants are a little too expansive for grandpa's tastes." Leaning her head back she looked up at the ceiling. "Kind of funny though how we both have someone in our family who has a knack for cooking."

A thought struck Lincoln's mind. "Hey, I have an idea: Maybe you can bring your whole family over sometime, and then your grandma and my dad can cook together for all of us!"

"That could end up in a totally awesome dinner, or a grand-scale kitchen war over who is the best cook." Lincoln could see a big grin forming on her face. "So either way, it'll be a very fun evening – especially with both our giant families stuffed in one place!"

"So?"

"I'll talk with my family about it. Don't think it'll be anytime soon, though."

"That's okay. But it sure would be nice to see you again – personally, I mean."

"Same here." Her gaze then wandered towards Lincoln's hand which rested on his desk. "By the way, what about your hand?" she asked, pointing at it.

Raising his arm Lincoln looked at his hand. "Oh, you mean that?" He held his bandaged wrist into the camera. "Well, as we fought over the sandwich of my dad's boss, I was able to grab it for a moment, but Lola leapt forward to get a bite." He rubbed the bandage. "She missed by a nudge."

Ronnie Anne snickered. "Looks like I really have to visit you soon – you're growing soft without me. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	9. Change of Heart

"Are you sure your sister doesn't have a screw loose?"

Rolling his eyes Lincoln sighed. "Look, just because someone seems to talk to the air doesn't mean they have a screw loose!" he insisted.

"Maybe, but from what you told me, Lori was sure acting crazy" Ronnie Anne said, crossing her arms. "I mean first she says Clyde should act normal around her, so you and your sister try helping him do that. But then she thinks Clyde doesn't have a crush on her anymore and tries to get him back, and in the end when he turns into a nose-bleeding robot again, she is glad he is back to his old creepy self again?" Frantically she shook her head. "I mean, what the heck?!"

With his thumb and index finger, Lincoln stoke over his chin. "I'm not really sure what was up with Lori. My sisters don't get it either – heck, she probably doesn't get it herself! But, she doesn't seem to mind Clyde's obsessive behavior as much as before anymore and generally has a better opinion of him, sooo…" He shrugged. "All's well that ends well I guess?"

"I still think she has a screw loose" Ronnie Anne said, still not seeming convincec.

Frowning Lincoln stemmed his head against his fist. "Whatever" he mumbled, blowing a stand of his hair out of his face.

Ronnie Anne cocked her head. While not directly upset, Lincoln did seem a little down. "You okay?" she asked.

Lincoln sighed. "Yeah – just a little bummed all that work on Clyde was for nothing."

"You mean teaching him how to do the ABC trick, hold his breath around Lori and talk to a cheap copy of her while having a fish under his shirt?" Ronnie Anne snickered. "Yeah, you two really worked your butts off."

"The fish was his idea!" Lincoln protested. "And Leni's Lori impression was spot on!" He stemmed his face against his fist again, this time though wearing a more ponderous look. "But seriously, what did she tell him that basically erased all the progress he made?"

Ronnie Anne shrugged. "Beats me." A somewhat sly smirk formed on her face. "Wish I could have seen his robot-nosebleed though – it sure sounded messy."

"Tell me!" Lincoln sighed "Some of the stains will probably never go out of the carpet…"

A fit of giggles broke out of Ronnie Anne. As she calmed down, the look on her face was a little more serious. "Hey Lincoln, what do you think about Clyde's crush on Lori?" she asked, curiously tilting her head.

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "Me?"  
"Yeah – don't you feel awkward knowing he is obsessed with your oldest sister?"

"I try not to think about it too much" he replied. "If he feels that way for her, I can do little about it but respect it and support him when he needs me."

Ronnie Anne smiled. "You really are a great friend, Lincoln."

"Also, while his obsession is a little creepy, at least Clyde doesn't show his affection by shoving sandwiches into people's pants."

The smile on her face turned upside down. "You just earned yourself a sloppy jo with extra thick sauce right down your underwear!"

Nervously Lincoln gulped. "You'll probably forget by the next time we meet… I hope."

"Oh, you bet I won't forget that! Smell ya later, lame-o."


	10. Health Kicked

"And then we all ran after the ice cream truck, and once we caught up I got two balls of vanilla with sprinkles. Perfect Happy ending, if you ask me!"

A big smile on his face, Lincoln looked at his computer screen. On the monitor, Ronnie Anne was staring indifferently back at him, her arms crossed, seeming somewhat skeptical. After a while, she leaned a little forward. "You and Clyde beat Punky Prawn?" she asked.

The smile on Lincoln's face turned into a frown. "That's what sticks with you from this story? The video game boss we beat at the beginning? I didn't even make a big deal of it! I just said "After Clyde and I beat Punky Prawn he told me about the health trip of his dads" – that was it!"

"Sorry, but I'm still stuck on this guy on super hard difficulty" Ronnie Anne moaned. "He keeps locking me in his combo, and it's super-hard dodging it!"

"To be honest, I haven't taken him down in one-player mode either" Lincoln admitted. "I thought constant blocking would do the trick, but he just breaks my guard and leaves me defenseless!

"Blocking? Lame - that's for cowards!"

"How is dodging any different?"

"Fair point." Ronnie Anne one arm over the backrest of her chair while resting the other one on her desk. "So, you guys really caught up with the ice cream truck?"

"Kinda" Lincoln said, sounding a little embarrassed. "When it had almost shaken us off, it got a flat tire."

Ronnie Anne smiled. "Now the story makes sense."

"Thank you very much."

"Come on, you gotta admit you're not the sportiest guy. Without me around, I can only imagine how much you are slacking off."

"Yeah, my shoulder is really missing your special kind of motivational input" Lincoln murmured, rubbing said body part in memory of the constant jabs his friend regularly gave him. More upbeat, he said: "But I'm glad my parents decided to pick up exercising. I was really worried about their health!"

Ronnie Anne chuckled. "Well my mom certainly doesn't need any exercise – she is running all day around in her job." Her fingers tapped around on her desk, and she lowered her gaze slightly as she spoke in a more serious tone: "To be honest, I think part of the reason we moved here was because it was all getting a little too much for her."

Lincoln nodded. "You told me she often had to take double-shifts."

"She still does, but it's not as bad as before. Also, now we have the rest of the family to support us." She cleared her throat, shaking the serious look off her face. "Anyway, how did the rest of that ninja competition go? Did Clyde's dads win?"

Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "Well unfortunately, the rest of show had to be called off after we broke the bar." A blush crept on his cheeks. "Aaaaand we got into a little bit of trouble for interfering with the competition."

"Ouch!"

"It's okay – us charging in to save our parents was well-received by the viewers, so they let us off the hook."

"Guess anything's game in TV as long as it boosts the ratings, huh?"

"Seems like it. Also, after seeing us on taking on those obstacles, they are thinking about making a spin-off series with kids as participants."

"Cool! Hey, wanna sign up for it? I could train you."

A slight shudder went down Lincoln's spine. "No thanks – the workout with my parents was already tough, and I don't wanna know what kind of torture you'd put me through!"

Ronnie Anne shrugged. "Fine by me – just make sure you don't fall out of shape too much without me. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	11. Lynn-er Takes All

"And so, Lynn was cured of her gloating habit" Lincoln wrapped up the story. "Well, more or less: After the game she went outside and did her victory dance – but at least she didn't shove it into our faces!"

Quietly, Ronnie-Anne nodded.

"Man, that were some tough days" Lincoln sighed, leaning back and putting an arm over his chair's backrest. "I mean it was really hard for us when she started challenging us to everything, but it's a miracle we put up with her gloating for so long! We were pretty generous to let it slipso far – or pretty dumb."

Ronnie-Anne showed Lincoln a weak smile.

"I mean she taunted us, boasted about how great she is, and did her dumb dances and yelled her silly slogans! Can you believe someone would get so worked up over some board games?"

"Yeah, crazy" she mumbled. Her eyes were gazing off, while her fingers tapped around on her desk.

Realizing something was off, Lincoln leaned closer to the screen. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You're strangely quiet today. Did something happen?"

After a moment, Ronnie-Anne shook her head. "Nah. It's just…" Letting out a sigh she looked him in the eyes. "We had a game night here some time ago too."

"So?"

"Well, I just realized… I might have acted a little like Lynn there."

Lincoln nodded. "I see."

The sad expression on Ronnie-Anne's face turned into a frown. "That's all you have to say about this?"

"What did you expect?" Lincoln shrugged. "That I'd yell "No way" while gasping in surprise?"

"Well thanks" Ronnie-Anne murmured, resting her head against her fist.

"Anyway, what did you play?" Lincoln asked.

"Monopoly."

"And you won? Congrats!"

"Thanks, but it wasn't that hard: Grandpa refused to pay more than a hundred bucks for any street and made outrageous prices for his own. Carlotta wasn't interested in getting full sets, but rather gathered streets in colours which she thought were complementing each other – it was hard to convince her there were no extra points for style. Carlos would have been a challenge if he hadn't wasted all his money on sabotaging Bobby – poor bro couldn't do much anymore after Carlos bought all the missing streets of his sets. CJ and Carlitos were forming a team and had a lot of fun, but they didn't really play competitive. The rest wasn't paying attention to the game either: Aunt Frieda was taking photos all the time, grandma constantly left for the kitchen to get us more snacks, Uncle Carlos kept reading about and telling us facts about the game and Mom was so tired after her double-shift, she couldn't really focus. Still, I was pretty proud when I won." With some hesitation, she added: "Aaaaand I might have gloated. Just a little."

"Well it's not bad if you celebrate your victory just a little" Lincoln assured her. "As long as you didn't rub it in with a victory dance while screaming some dumb slogan like "Lynn-er, Lynn-er – chicken dinner"…"

Ronnie-Anne bit her lip.

"…Oh."

"I better apologize to them."

"Good idea. You should also be careful not to brag in the future after winning a game."

"Yeah, I don't wanna go through the same stuff as you guys – you know, get challenged to all kinds of weird games, winning them all, then losing because the others team up against me, trying to regain my lost self-confidence by turning everything into a competition before we eventually settle things over a faked revanche that ends up in us talking things out."

Cocking his head, the white-heard boy put on a thoughtful grimace. "When you say it like that, it kind of sounds like we should have just gone straight to Lynn and discussed things with her in the first place, and it would have saved us all a lot of trouble."

With crossed arms Ronnie-Anne leaned back. "Huh, you're right, it does sound like that… Maybe it' actually better to just go talk about problems instead of coming up with overly complicated plans to solve them?"

Both youths thought about this for a moment. "Nah" both of them dismissed the thought.

"I should have figured though you and Lynn would be similar with board games" Lincoln remarked. "I mean, you two are both very competitive..." Suddenly, his smile dropped, and a look of deep worry and anxiety formed on his face.

"Something wrong, partner?" Ronnie-Anne asked a little concerned.

Lincoln shook his head. "No, no, I'm fine. I just imagined you and Lynn on a game night together." He gulped. "It would be very… intense."

Ronnie-Anne's snicker sounded through the speakers of his laptop. "Yeah – it would probably end up in blood n' tears."

"Well you should go and work on your gloating habit, or there might be blood and tears in your family."

"Good point. Smell ya later, lame-o!"


	12. Future Tense

As Lincoln accepted the chat invitation, a window with a very annoyed Ronnie-Anne popped up on his screen. "Well, well, well - look who's finally decided to answer my call" she said, angrily tapping on her desk. "So, care to explain why you behaved like a total weirdo the entire week?"

Confused, Lincoln furrowed his brows. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Grabbing into her pocket, Ronnie-Anne pulled out her smartphone. "Message from last Friday: 'Just read a comic about sanitors. Please save me!' Message from Saturday: 'Can't believe how many hamburger wrappers people throw out of their car windows.' Message from Saturday night: 'Turtles bite!' Message from Monday: 'Never knew garbage truck drivers had such a hard job. Still prefer Ace Savvy though.' Message from Tuesday: 'Finally convinced my parents to sign me up for some voluntary work – now I have less time to read comics!' Message from yesterday: 'Have you considered taking some extra-curricular activities? They might help round out your character.'" She put the phone back into her pocket. "Okay, what the heck is going on Lincoln? And why didn't you answer any of my calls or invitations this week?"

The white-haired boy blushed. "Sorry, Ronnie-Anne" he said, flustered. "I was busy with extra-curricular activities, cleaning up the city, going to the opera and saving endangered species – and in the time in between, I was reading educational comics."

Ronnie-Anne silently stared at Lincoln, a look of confusion on her face.

"A new family moved into our neighborhood" he explained.

She didn't look any less confused.

"…I guess I better tell the story from the start."

"Brilliant idea."

"Well basically, we have new neighbors with kids who spent all their time doing voluntary work or doing extra-curricular activities to enhance their artistic, academic and physical skills."

"Oh, I get it" Ronnie-Anne interrupted him "Your parents thought it might not hurt if you guys also broadened your horizons a little?"

"They've been forcing stuff on us all week!" Lincoln shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. "I couldn't play video games, I barely saw Clyde, I didn't have time to chat with you – all I could do was pick up trash and read educational comic books!"

Blankly Ronnie-Anne stared at her friend. "Wow – that sounds like torture!"

Tilting back in his chair, Lincoln let his arms hang to his sides. "Actually, I think the worst part was it didn't feel like it."

Both of Ronnie-Anne's eyebrows arched up in shock. "You mean you liked it?!"

"No, but me and my sisters got used to it. Whenever we seemed to get a break, our parents would just force something else on us. At one point, we pretty much accepted we had to sacrifice all our free-time in order to become well-rounded, high achieving adults."

"Woah. Kind of sounds like all of you turned into zombies."

"It wasn't like that. We just gave up thinking we could ever have fun again and resigned into a life of unpleasant activities we didn't really want to do." Suddenly, his eyes widened in realisation. "Oh my gosh, we really were zombies!" he screamed, slapping his cheek.

His reaction made Ronnie-Anne chuckle. "Seeing you still got flesh on your bones though, I take it your parents snapped out of it?"

"Yeah. When they realized we basically lost all interest in anything, they reeled back. Now we can do whatever we want again."

"Glad to hear that – I don't want to have a zombie for a friend." Her smile turned into a frown. "But these new neighbors kind of sound like jerks…"

Lincoln shook his head. "Not at all! They aren't arrogant or up-high or anything like that, but they are all very nice! Actually, when they saw us play around, the parents quickly realized fun is important too, and let their kids play with us."

"Really?"

"Yes! The youngest one, Beau, is a big comic fan – we quickly became friends."

Not having expected that, Ronnie-Anne scratched her chin. "Huh. Maybe I could meet them the next time I'm in Royal Woods?"

"Sure – although your list of things you want to do when you're here again is getting kind of long…"

A devious smirk spread across her face. "Don't worry: The sloppy joe down your pants is still top spot."

Lincoln gulped. "So, um, got any plans for the rest of the day?"

"I don't know" she said, pondering for a moment. "Hearing about all that stuff you and your sisters did kind of inspired me. Maybe I'll plant some trees or sign up for some extra-curricular activity to help round out my character and broaden my horizon."

Both kids looked at each other for a moment, before they broke out into laughter.

"Seriously though, I'm probably gonna hit the TV" she replied more seriously. "There is nothing particular I want to watch, but nobody seized the remote yet, so I've gotta take that opportunity."

"I know how that is! But I think I'll spend the rest of the day just reading comics – _non_ -educational comics."

Seeing the broad grin on his face, Ronnie-Anne giggled. "Well, I don't wanna delay the reunion with your long-lost friends. Smell ya later, lame-o!"


	13. Yes Man

"You're kidding."

Growing annoyed Lincoln massaged his temples. "Ronnie Anne, I sent you photos of it…"

"You're kidding!" she insisted, crossing her arms.

He sighed. "I showed you the autograph, alongside an example of their handwriting to prove it's real..."

"You. Are. Kidding!"

"You just called Clyde, Liam and Zach, and they all confirmed-"

"Lincoln, you can have Mother Theresa testify for you, I will not believe Smooch was giving you a private concert in your garden!"

A smile formed on Lincoln's face, displaying just a hint of smugness. "Don't forget the personal song everyone sung for me – well everyone but Lucy."

With a frown Ronnie-Anne let herself sink in her chair. "This is ridiculous even for you - can't afford the money for the ticket, but got more of Smooch than everyone at the concert!"

Lincoln nodded. "Yep, that's my life!"

Grumbling Ronnie-Anne sat up straight again. "Why did you wait until the last second to ask your parents for the money anyway? Why not you go straight to them when you heard there'd be a concert in Royal Woods?"

"I had already asked them to buy me a rare Ace Savvy comic from the eighties a few days before" Lincoln explained. "So I waited as long as possible to increase my chances of success."

"Okay, that was clever" Ronnie-Anne admitted. Curiously she leaned a little closer to the screen. "You gotta tell me though: How did your sisters convince Smooch to perform in your garden?"

"They told me afterwards" he said. "Apparently, Luna's roadie Chunk had a small job at the Smooch concert, so he could get them behind the stage before the concert. It was still tough for them to move freely around, but whenever a security guard tried to keep them out of an isolated area Lily started crying, making them feel so uncomfortable they eventually left them alone. With their combined cuteness the twins then managed to trick one of the roadies into telling them who was in charge behind the scenes. Luan and Luna convinced that guy into believing they were a musician and ventriloquist duo hired by Smooch to help them relax after the concert, and let them meet up just before the concert began. Upon meeting, Smooch at first thought they were some lunatic fans and wanted to kick them out, but Lori and Leni talked non-stop until they had no choice but to listen to them. After explaining the situation they were eager to help, however their schedule for the rest of the night was full. But Lisa, who had researched Smooch's schedule in advance, managed to rearrange everything so they would have some spare time. Just as they agreed though, Smooch's managers and lawyers insisted my sisters to pay for the private concert. Luckily, Lynn could convince the managers into a bet: If she managed to throw a basketball through the window of a far-away trailer, they would get the concert for free, and if she missed my sisters would pay double – needless to say she won. The lawyers wanted to argue the bet wasn't legitimate, but Lucy scared them away. Once all was settled my sisters returned home, prepared everything and then started playing to get me out of bed just before Smooch arrived."

Ronnie-Anne blinked. "Wow."

"I know, right? And it wasn't even me who came up with that plan!"

"Maybe that's why it worked?" she wondered, winking.

"Hey!"

His cheeks red Lincoln pouted, while Ronnie-Anne snickered. "Also, now that you taught your sisters the art of persuasion, you might go out empty-handed more often when asking your parents for money" she remarked.

Lincoln shrugged. "Just means I have to be faster and up my game a little in the future."

"As long as you don't play guitar or talk through a dummy again…"

His blush intensifying, Lincoln murmured: "Maybe I should stop telling you all my life stories in so much detail."

"You sure that's wise?" she asked with a grin. "I'll just stitch the missing pieces together."

"You're right – better to tell you straight how it was instead of letting your imagination run wild…"

"That's the spirit! Though honestly, I could never come up with some of the stuff that happens to you." She rested her head on her fist, staring up at her ceiling. "A Smooch concert in your garden… you really didn't make that up?"

Rolling his eyes Lincoln sighed. "I gotta do homework now – I hope you believe me by the next time we talk."

"Unlikely. Smell ya later, lame-o!"


	14. Friend or Faux?

"So they actually had to close the rollercoaster?" Lincoln asked.

Leaning her head on her first Ronnie-Anne nodded. "Yeah, and all that just because CJ and Carl couldn't keep their hands inside the cart" she said, frowning. "Fortunately, the park manager understood it was an accident and decided not to charge us." Her cheeks slid off her first as she dropped her head on her desk. "Unfortunately, they still want me to pay for the annual tickets I grabbed. I'll be spending the next few weekends cleaning the barf from their toilet seats to work them off..."

Lincoln flinched upon the image that popped up in his mind. "Ouch! And I can't believe after all that, you still didn't get that letter!"

Arms crossed under her chin Ronnie-Anne moaned her sleeves. "Next time the school writes a letter to my mom, I'll just tell her right away." Taking in a deep breath she sat herself up straight again. "So, anything interesting to share on your end?" she asked, putting on a more upbeat look.

Lincoln shook his head. "Not really. Nothing going on at school, here at home or anywhere else in Royal Woods – life has been pretty quiet lately."

The door to his room suddenly swung open as a loud explosion sent a shockwave across the entire first floor. The blast ruffled up Lincoln's hair, and almost made him to fall out of his chair. Grabbing his desk Lincoln held on to keep balance, while letting out a sigh.

"I had to jinx it."

As he slid back on the center of the seat, his sister Lisa appeared in the door. Her body was covered in ash, and behind her, he could see smoke coming out of her room, slowly filling the corridor.

"Pardon the explosion, brother" his younger sister apologized as she wiped the black dirt off her glasses. "My friend Darcy wanted to play with shome of Lily'sh toysh, but she mishtook my nuclear fushion reactor with a toy oven and accidently overcharged it. For the resht of the afternoon, we'll be in the garden – pleashe tell our shisters not to enter my and Lily'sh room until the contamination-team hash arrived and gotten rid of the radioactivity." Before she closed the door behind her, Lincoln could see at another girl her age in the corridor, also covered in ash while coughing from the smoke.

Once his sister was gone Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "That's weird."

Having witnessed and heard everything Ronnie-Anne nodded. "Yeah, who confuses a fusion reactor with a toy oven?"

"Nah, we all made that mistake. But Lisa never brought a friend home before…"

Ronnie-Anne chuckled. "Well, was about time then." Rubbing her chin she pondered for a moment. "Lisa's the little smarty in your family, right? Being a toddler-genius sure is impressive, but it can't hurt to have some friends too."

"True - "I just hope she won't use this Darcy as some sort of guinea pig" he said, looking a little worried.

"Is she really that weird?" Ronnie-Anne asked, putting an arm over her chair's backrest. "Like, some sort of cartoonish super-brain who finds human relationships pointless and irrational?"

"Sometimes. You have to keep in mind though she does have a lot of social interaction at home – every day, she has ten siblings to deal and who she can spend time with. I guess everything others need friends for, she is used to have her sisters and brother for instead."

"Good point."

"Still, I'm happy she found someone aside from us to hang out with" he said, smiling. "By the way, did you make any new friends at your school already?"

Ronnie-Anne was about to respond, when the voice of her mother cut into their conversation:

"Ronnie-Anne, it's time for the dishes!"

"Coming Mom!" Ronnie-Anne called towards her door. With a sigh she turned back to Lincoln on her screen. "Sorry, but as punishment for trying to hide that letter, I have to do the dishes for a week."

"On your own?"

"Nah, that'd be too much work considering we need to wash plates, glass- and flatware for over ten people - not to mention all of grandma's food trays…

"Well, try not to get shrivelled hands."

"I'll do my best. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	15. No Laughing Matter

"Why don't the salad ingredients ever complain about getting eaten by us?"

Ronnie-Anne shrugged.

"Because they _lettuce_!"

A big grin on his face, Lincoln eagerly looked at the girl on the screen. Instead of breaking out in laughter however, she just gave him a long glare, before slowly shaking her head. "I don't get it."

Lincoln sighed. "Look, it's a joke about salad, and lettuce sounds like-"

"I get the joke, I just don't think it's funny, okay?"

His brows furrowed Lincoln lowered his head. "Hey, it's not mine! I picked it up from Luan's joke book – though when she told it at the Chortle Portal, everybody burst out laughing..."

"It's all in the delivery, I guess."

"You're probably right." As he thought about it for a moment he frowned. "Hey, are you saying I can't tell a joke?"

With a grin, Ronnie-Anne winked at him. "Sorry, but you better _leaf_ the salad jokes to pros like your sister."

"Oh come on! My comedy is rock- _salad_!"

"I still think you got _mushroom_ to improve."

"But I'm such a _fungi_!"

"That was just _corny_."

"Now you're being _sour_!"

Ronnie-Anne looked at Lincoln in confusion.

"Um, because of the vinegar in salad sauce?"

Her eyes rolled up, the black-haired girl moaned. "Aaaanyway, I didn't think your sister was that sensitive."

Lincoln shrugged. "She must have been extremely nervous about the contest – which would also explain why she has been so penetrant with her puns and jokes. More than usually, I mean."

"Maybe, but giving up comedy because she heard you guys complain? That's drastic." Leaning back Ronnie-Anne folded her arms behind her head. "But I'm glad you got her to snap out of it. I really dig your sister's pranks, so it would have been a shame if she quit 'em."

A shiver went through Lincoln, causing him to wrap his arms around him. "That's because you haven't been a target of her on April's fools day yet – I'm telling you, she is a psychopath!"

"Guess you'll be regretting soon to have helped her get her edge back" she remarked, chuckling.

Pondering for a moment, Lincoln put on a smile. "Actually, it's fine. Luan without comedy is much eerier than pranking psychopath Luan could ever be – I hope."

"Always the nice guy, huh?" A bit frustrated, she suddenly threw her head back. "But I so wish I could have seen you bomb on stage!" She frowned at her ceiling for a moment, before looking back into her webcam with a smile. "Hey, do you think someone recorded it and put it on the internet?"

Chuckling, Lincoln shook his head. "If so, good luck finding it!" he laughed, leaning back in confidence. "So many videos get uploaded every second, the chance you find my performance is pretty much-"

"Got it!" Surprised Lincoln stared at his screen. Though Ronnie-Anne was looking intensely at her own, her gaze wasn't directed at him, but a different window on her laptop. "Just had to search 'white-haired boy chortle portal'."

Lincoln pulled some of his signature white hair into his sight, and scowled. "Dang it…"

After Ronnie-Anne made a few clicks, he could hear the sounds of applause coming from her speakers, along some other noise as if somebody was tripping. "Gosh, the entrance when you stumble on the stage is gold already!" Bursting out into laughter, Ronnie-Anne wiped a tear from her eye.

The scowl on Lincoln's face intensified, while a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. "If you don't mind, I 'm gonna log out. I really don't need to watch _you_ watching _me_ fail on stage."

"Yeah, I'll be busy the next few hours having that on loop, anyway. Smell ya later, lame-o!"


	16. Tricked!

Both of Ronnie-Anne's hands were covering her face. "Please, Lincoln – please tell me this is a joke…"

A blush on his cheeks, Lincoln uncomfortably moved around in his chair. "N-no, it's not. Clyde and I gave pretty much all our Halloween treats to the other kids from my neighborhood."

Stemming her elbow against the table and her head against her fist, Ronnie-Anne moaned. She was still wearing her Halloween make-up, her face having the green complexion of a zombie, with several scars, open wounds and little bits of skin hanging off. Also, one of her ears looked like it was about to fall off, hanging at the side of her head with only a small part still attached. Lincoln guessed she had her real ear hidden behind her hair. "Gosh, it's friggin Halloween, Lincoln – the season for sharing and kindness is still two months away. And yet you go around and play the hero, saving everybody's Christmas… pardon, Halloween."

Tilting his head, Lincoln frowned. "Okay, first, I was not a hero. Clyde and I were just cleaning up the mess we made. And second – is it just me or are you especially grumpy today?"

Ronnie-Anne mumbled something under her breath. Then, her expression softened. "Sorry. It was really nice of you to do that, and to offer your sisters to take them with you to that candy gold mine next year. It's just…" A little reluctantly, she pulled out a bag from under her desk. "My Halloween loot wasn't that great this year."

Turning up the bag, she spilled the contents on her desk. After adjusting the position of her laptop a little, Lincoln could see a handful of tiny bonbons rolling around, as well as something that looked like a… sardine?

"Please tell me that's candy."

Ronnie-Anne shook her head. "Nope – a crazy cat-lady from the neighborhood gave it to me. Probably thought I was one of her cats."

"Why did your Halloween tour fail so hard?" Lincoln asked, scratching his head. "I mean your costume is very…" Some fake pus dripped from her face. "C-convincing."

She pushed the few bonbons and the fish off her desk. "I'm new here, Lincoln. I don't know all the good candy spots or the best routes yet, and the neighbors don't know me."

"Didn't your family help you?"

Underneath her green make-up, the cheeks of Ronnie-Anne turned a little red. "I, er, kinda made fun of Carl's costume. And then it somehow escalated into a bet of who could get the most candy."

"What was he going as?"

"Undead Elvis. His make-up didn't really look like he was dead though, but more like he needed to go into the sun."

As Lincoln looked at her face, he believed to see fly eggs in one of her wounds. "Well your make-up is very good." To himself, he whispered "Almost a little too good."

Ronnie-Anne coughed. "Thanks, but to be honest, Carlota helped me with it – I could have never get it done like this without her." With her little finger, she poked a swollen blister on her neck. "I mean check out how my bump is bouncing! Pretty gross, huh?"

The half chocolate-bar in Lincoln's stomach tried to make its way back up his throat. Swallowing his nausea, he forced a smile on his face. "Y-yeah… so um, you and Carl had this bet going?"

Chin resting on her hand Ronnie-Anne nodded. "Yeah. While he and CJ went with Bobby, I was on my own to get as much candy as possible. I ended up in some weird back alleys where people either handed out the smallest bonbons of the world, or straight up shut the door in front of my nose."

"Did you trick them?"

A bitter chuckle came out of his speakers. "I'm not a coward, Lincoln, but I'm no idiot either. The people there could fill out doorframes, and they didn't seem like the type who appreciate a good prank. After a rather unsuccessful Halloween tour I eventually got lost, and had to call Uncle Carlos to pick me up again." Her brows furrowed. "The whole way home he lectured me."

"Was he that mad you went out on your own?"

"Oh no, I mean he told me everything about Halloween. Did you know the classic Halloween traditions might date back to old Celtic harvest festivals?"  
"And I always thought the candy and costume industry made them up." He leaned back in his chair. "So Carl won the bet?"

The half-rotten lips of the zombie girl cracked a smile. "Nope. He had quite a lot of candy, but he kept pulling pranks on Bobby, scaring him whenever there was an opportunity. At one point, Bobby had enough and decided to pay him back: He made him believe the cats in our streets had turned into zombies! Screaming and panicking, he tossed all his of candy at them."

The two kids laughed. "Wow. Didn't think Bobby could pull something like that of."

"Guess he picked up a trick or two from your sister Luan. In the end, Carl had as little candy as I did."

"Then nobody won the bet?"

"Oh, there was a winner: CJ got three full bags of candy."

Impressed, Lincoln whistled. "Not bad. How did he do that?"

"He went as a a pirate super hero."

"…Ingenious."

"He's so kind to share his loot with me and Carl." A grin formed on her face. "So, unlike you and Clyde, we didn't go empty-handed out of this Halloween."

Lincoln shrugged. "That's okay. Instead of candy, we got a good feeling in our stomachs."

"Still wrong season, Lincoln…"

"Also, it was so sweet watching those jerks run for their mommies!"

Seeing the malicious look on Lincoln's face, Ronnie-Anne smiled.

"Well, Lucy's Halloween maze should wrap up about now" Lincoln said. "I'll go help blow out all the pumpkins before we go to bed."

"And I better get back to Carl and CJ before all the candy is gone. Smell ya later lame-o – and Happy Halloween!"

"You too!"


	17. No Spoilers

"…and after bringing the twins to bed, I decided to call it a night too" Lincoln told the girl on his screen. "But from my room, I could still hear the adults and my older siblings celebrating until after midnight."

"Sounds like a great party, huh?" Ronnie-Anne remarked with a smirk.

Lincoln nodded. "Yep. Leni really outdid herself."

"Nice. Kind of hard to believe though none of you noticed your party preparations were going awry without her."

"In my defense, I wasn't with my sisters when they messed everything up."

"No, I mean nobody of you noticed she has always been the mastermind behind all your surprise parties."

Lincoln turned up his mouth. "I still have a hard time believing Leni is the mastermind of anything." Stroking his chin, he pondered for a moment. "But she always had that way of giving commands without anyone noticing. Like, at Lori's party, when we were all blowing up balloons in different colours, she made a comment about Lori preferring hues of blue. During the food preparations for Lisa's party, she reminded us Lisa liked fancy French food the most. And she was the only one to remember Luna was part of a band when we were making the guest list for her party." He leaned his head against his fist. "Huh. Thinking about it, she pretty much always did most of the work."

"Figures" Ronnie-Anne said. "I mean she managed to set up a great party for your Mom in half the time the rest of you needed to prepare a horrible one."

A frown on his face, Lincoln sighed. "Yeah, yeah, rub it in. But organizing something with so many people can be hard."

"What do you mean? You just split up the work between everyone – the more, the easier."

"Don't think that always goes smoothly. Lori usually calls the shots, but when she isn't around, things can get rough. I remember for her surprise party, both Lynn and Lana wanted to do the decorations. The whole thing turned into a mud-wrestling match!"

"Hm… You may be right there." Looking thoughtful Ronnie-Anne leaned back in her chair. "I was thinking about throwing a surprise party for my mother's birthday. I'll need the half of my family, but who's gonna be in charge? Can't really see Bobby as the big boss – he is too nice to order people around… aaaaand maybe also a little too naïve."

"Couldn't your cousin do it?" Lincoln suggested. "She's around the same age as Bobby and Lori."

She waved it off. "Nah, I think Carlota would focus too much on decorations, and too little on practical things like food."

"How about one of the adults? Like your grandparents?"

"Grandma's gonna do the cooking, that's for sure. And while grandpa is nice, I think he is a little too cheap to be put into an organization role."

"Your aunt? Your uncle?"

"Uncle Carlos is too much of a bookworm – he'd read all about parties, get caught up on some trivia about how people celebrated through the ages and forget to actually tell us what to do. And with Aunt Frieda we probably wouldn't get done in time because she'd keep distracting us by making photos."

Scratching his head, Lincoln said: "Well, counting off your other cousins… that'd only leave you."

Ronnie-Anne flinched. "Me?"

"Sure. I mean, you are tough but reliable, not afraid to speak up when something goes wrong – you'd probably make a great boss."

A slight blush on her cheeks, Ronnie-Anne quietly looked at Lincoln. "…I'll think about it. First off, my own birthday is up anyway. Wonder if my family is gonna surprise me."

"Judging from my last visit, I'm pretty sure they'll have something up their sleeves for you." And they are not the only ones, he thought with a grin.

"Probably. Though I'm afraid we don't have a party genius like Leni in our family."

Hearing Leni being called a genius still sounded wrong in Lincoln's ears. "At least you won't have to worry about the surprise being spoiled."

"I wouldn't be so sure… CJ got kind of a lose mouth."

Underneath his desk, Lincoln's legs were starting to wobble. "Um, speaking about lose… I think I need to hang up. Had too much birthday cake last night."

"Not gonna hold you off. Smell ya later, lame-o!"

"Bye!" Quickly Lincoln jumped off his chair. He didn't even bother logging off or closing the door behind him as he dashed out of the room, right to the bathroom. Chuckling Ronnie-Anne shook her head. Just as she was about to log off, a blonde head poked through the door of Lincoln's room.

"Lincoln, are you in here?" Leni asked, looking for her brother. "I'm working on a hat for pop-pop and need you as a hair model." As her gaze met the computer on Lincoln's desk, she smiled. "Uh, hi Ronnie-Anne! I didn't know you were visiting."

"Hi, Leni" Ronnie-Anne said, waving her hand. "I'm video-chatting with Lincoln."

"Oh, that's why you are sitting on his desk!" Entering Lincoln's room, she leaned over his laptop. "Hey, did Lincoln ask you about the game?"

"What game?" Ronnie-Anne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Lincoln and I were at the mall recently. He bought this new Muscle Fish video game for your birthday, but he wasn't sure if you really wanted it. So, do you want it?"

Slapping her face Ronnie-Anne moaned.


	18. Read Aloud

As he closed the door to his room behind him, Lincoln felt a slight rumble in his stomach. But the pressure in his belly dissolved as he let out a loud burp. "Man, that was some fine pizza" he sighed, wiping some cheese leftovers from his lips. Sitting down in his chair he patted his belly, savoring on the taste of peperoni that still lingered in his mouth.

A beep then caught his attention. Turning to his desk, he saw he had forgotten to turn is laptop off, and the request for a video chat was blinking. As he accepted it, the image of Ronnie-Anne in her room popped up. Smiling, he was about to greet her. Another burp suddenly forced its way out of him. Blushing he quickly covered his mouth.

"Nice to see ya too, lame-o" Ronnie-Anne said, rolling her eyes.

Flustered, Lincoln chuckled. "Sorry. Lola just made us all a lot of pizza, and I may have eaten a little too much."

"She made pizza for you?" Ronnie-Anne asked with a curious ring in her voice. "Why that?"

"Well…" Lincoln pondered for a moment. On one hand, the story of how he helped his little sister and she made pizza for the whole family afterwards was definitely a tale worth sharing. However, although Ronnie-Anne was his friend, telling others about the reading problems of his little sister didn't seem right to Lincoln. "Um, no occasion" he told her.

The look on Ronnie-Anne's face was a skeptical one. "Really? She just made pizza for you all?"

With a few beads of sweat on his forehead, Lincoln nodded. "Yep."

For a moment, Ronnie-Anne stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Well okay" she said, putting her arm over the backrest of her chair. "So, did anything interesting happen in Royal Woods?"

Relieved, Lincoln breathed a quiet sigh. "My family participated in a reading challenge" he said without thinking.

"Was there some sort of prize?"

And he had stepped right back into the trap. "Er, nope. It was just for fun"

Ronnie-Anne frowned. "That sounds lame."

"Yeees… but it gave me a good excuse to read all of my Ace Savvy comics again!" Lincoln quickly said.

Ronnie-Anne shook her head. "Seriously? They counted comics?" she asked, smirking.

Again, he had dodged the bullet. "They also counted Lily's animal books – it was a challenge for the whole family, after all."

"Makes sense. So, did your family win?"

Why did it feel like he kept jumping in front of a gun? "Not… quite."

Ronnie-Anne gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean not quite? Your family consists of thirteen people – who could have managed to read more than all of you together?"

Nervously Lincoln pulled on his collar. "Um…"

"Lincoln, is there something you aren't telling me?" she asked, leaning a little closer to her screen.

Taking in a deep breath, Lincoln sighed. "I'm sorry Ronni-Anne, but I don't think I should speak with you about this. It's kind of private."

Ronnie-Anne looked at him for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders. "Okay."

Surprised, Lincoln flinched. "You're fine with it?"

"Sure. Just because I'd like to know what's up in Royal Woods doesn't mean you need to tell me every detail about your life. I respect your privacy."

"Thanks." Relaxing, Lincoln leaned back with a smile. "So, do you have an interesting story to tell?"

"Nope. The city's been calm."

"Guess we got nothing to tell each other then."

"Looks like it - but I'm sure something will happen eventually."

Lincoln chuckled. "Yeah, our lives never stay dull for long." He rubbed his belly. "You know, I think I'll go check if there is still a slice of pizza left."

"Well happy hunting then. Smell ya later, lame-o!"

"You too."

With a click, Ronnie-Anne hung up. Just as she closed her laptop, someone knocked on the door. "Come in!"

Her cousin Carl came in. "Hey, CJ and I convinced grandpa to take us to the park" he told her. "At first he didn't want to until we told him entrance is free. You coming too?"

"Sure. I just finished talking to Lincoln."

"Did you tell him about how you nearly burned down half the school?" he asked, grinning slyly.

Jumping out of her chair she shrugged. "Eh. He doesn't need to know everything."


	19. Not a Loud

Her legs crossed and one arm over her chair's backrest, Ronnie-Anne looked at the boy on her screen. Sitting in his room one of his arms was bandaged, he had a black eye, and an ice bag was lying on top of his head. She stared at him in a mixture of pity, disbelief, but mostly confusion. "You sure you don't wanna tell me what happened?"

The ice on his head rattling slightly Lincoln shook his head. "Sorry, but certain details of that story are confidential. And embarrassing." Slouching his shoulders he sighed. "Let's just say I don't have any mutant powers…"

After skeptically eying him for a little longer Ronnie-Anne shrugged. "You know what? I'm not gonna ask."

A smile formed on his bruised face. "Thanks."

"Anything broken?" Ronnie-Anne asked, looking at his arm.

"Nope, just a little strained" he replied, rubbing his bandaged arm. "Should be better by tomorrow."

"Glad to hear that. Anyway, not much going on here. Have to do some project about my family for school."

"Do you need to tell your birth story?"  
"What? No!" she said, staring at him in bewilderment. "Why do you think that?"

"Er, just guessing – so what is it then?" he quickly asked.

"It's about telling the class about life in my family" she replied. "You know, like this project Mrs. Johnson once had us do, where you showed up with all your sisters in class."

"I got an A for that – well, A- thanks to Luan. But maybe you can do something like that too?"

Ronnie-Anne shook her head. "Doubt it. Walking up to the class with my brother won't have nearly as much as impact as your entrance with all your sisters."

"I meant your whole family" Lincoln said. "Like, maybe not the adults because they'll work, but your cousins."

Raising an eyebrow Ronnie-Anne seemed skeptical. "My cousins? I dunno… that would probably end up in total chaos."

Lincoln snickered. "You think it was easy when I brought all my sisters to school?"

"Fair point – I'll consider it. For now though, I think I'll stick with a popsicle model." With two fingers she scratched her chin. "Just have to figure out how to get it past the cats in one piece…"

"If you need help, I can give you some tips – I'm an expert at bringing stuff past a group of vicious beasts!" Proudly Lincoln pounded his chest. However, he accidentally did it with his bandaged arm, causing him to turn up his mouth in pain. "Ouch!"

Amused, Ronnie-Anne smirked. "Thanks, but you better heal first, expert. Smell ya later, lame-o!"


	20. Legends

"So, you and your dad are gonna be on Legends?"

With a smile on his face Lincoln nodded. "Yup. Just him and me, doing some father-son-stuff."

Ronnie-Anne looked somewhat skeptically at him. "I don't know if being on a game-show really counts as father-son-stuff" she said, scratching her head. "Like, what are you gonna do next time you wanna hang out? Sign up for Double Dare or Finders Keepers?"

Lincoln shrugged. "We'll think about something. For now, I'm just happy we finally found something we can do together."

"Good for you, I guess." Tilting her head, she rested her cheek on her fist. "You know, it's hard to believe you don't spend more time with your father. As the only guys in a house full of women, one would think there'd be a deeper bond between you two."

"Well, we may be the only two men here, but we are pretty different from each other." He glanced over to the door, listening if his father was in hearing range, before leaning closer to the screen. "Also, my dad isn't really the manliest of men to be honest…"

Ronni-Anne smirked. "At least you two got that in common."

"Hey!" For a moment Lincoln frowned, before a smug smile formed his face. "You're just jealous I'm gonna be on TV" he said, proudly sticking out his chest.

Nonchalant, Ronni-Anne shook her head. "Nah. It sure is nice for you, but I don't care. And I doubt it really matters for you either."

After pondering for a moment, Lincoln nodded. "You're right. The most important thing I'm gonna spend some time with my dad." He crossed his arms on his desk. "Speaking about it, have you spent some on-on-one-time with everyone in your extended family already?"

Slouching her shoulders Ronnie-Anne moaned. "I tried. Thing is, I don't really have that much in common with most of them either. Last week, I went to a museum with Uncle Carlos, but all that historic stuff completely overwhelmed me."

"Yeah, museums can be pretty boring."

"I was talking about my uncle."

"Oh…"

"Another time, Aunt Frieda showed me around the city."

"That sounds nice."

"It would have been if we hadn't stopped like, every five steps so she could take a photo." Ronnie-Anne sighed. "If you're interested, I can send you over five hundred photos of grocery stores, historic sights and random people on the street she found interesting."

"Er, I think I'll pass."

"I wish I could have."

"What about your cousins?"

"Well Carl and I went skateboarding the other day, and that went fine."

"Great!"

"Until he spotted a bunch of high school girls, tried a handstand to impress them and I had to take him to the hospital when he fell down the ramp."

"Not so great…"

"Luckily, he only got some bruises." Leaning back in her chair Ronnie-Anne folded her arms over her belly. "So yeah, so far it hasn't really clicked with any of my family members. But I'd say we are all getting along rather well."

"Don't worry. It took a while for me and my dad to find a common interest too - just gotta keep trying!" A thought struck Lincoln's mind. "I don't recommend trying out deep-sea diving though – you'll only get fishes in your pants."

She snickered. "Thanks for the advice."

Lincoln glanced at the clock. "Well, my dad should pick me up for the airport soon."

"Then have a nice trip, and good luck on the show! When you're back tell me how it went."

Confused, Lincoln furrowed his brows. "Won't you watch it?"

"It's not a live show, Lincoln" she said, rolling her eyes. "It'll probably take a few months before they air it."

"Oh. Right." Clearing his throat, he pointed with his thumb behind him. "Anyway, I better go pack the rest of my stuff."

"Alright. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	21. Mall of Duty

After spinning a few times on her chair Ronnie-Anne stopped, facing her screen. "You know Lincoln, after hearing about how you chased that train, jumped off a scooter and used a yoyo to swing over to a locomotive – I am surprised you don't have an A in sports."

Lincoln chuckled. "Maybe I can convince Coach Pacowski to add train-hijacking to the curriculum."

"Or maybe someone just needs to put one of your sisters into a potentially dangerous situation during P.E.?" Seeing his furrowed brows, Ronnie-Anne sighed. "Sorry. But it's really impressive what you're capable of when it's for your sisters."

"Thanks" Lincoln said, the look on his face softening while his chest swelled with pride. "When it's for the family, I guess I develop some sort of super powers."

A grin on her face, Ronnie-Anne looked proud too. "Hey, don't think you're the only one!"

"Oh?" Lincoln leaned towards the screen. "Did you go through an adventure where you had to protect your younger cousins?"

"Actually, I was referring to my brother" she said, appearing less proud but rather annoyed. "Taking care of Bobby sometimes requires supernatural powers… like heavenly patience."

"Did he try to go to the swimming pool in autumn again?"

"No, but he went for a walk with Lalo and got lost. I had to guide him home by searching the way online and texting him directions. One sec…"

Outside of the screen, Ronnie-Anne fumbled around her phone. Shortly after the phone in Lincoln's pocket vibrated. As he took it out, he saw Ronnie-Anne had sent her several texts of her and her brother.

 **Ronnie-Anne 3:47pm**

Okay Bobby turn left at the crossing and follow the road. Our store should be on the left side after a few hundred meters

 **Bobby 3:47 pm**

alright thx sis :)

 **Bobby 3:58 pm**

I did what you told me but now I'm at a dead end with an old factory

 **Ronnie-Anne 3:58pm**

What? Let me check

 **Ronnie-Anne 4:01pm**

You turned left too early! I told you to go to the crossing!

 **Bobby 4:02pm**

Sry :( I'll go back

 **Ronnie-Anne 4:29pm**

I haven't heard from you in a while, are you okay bro?

 **Bobby 4:32 pm**

Well I trid to go bak but somehow endd up in a scary neghbrhod

 **Ronnie-Anne 4:32 pm**

Why didn't you contact me sooner?!

 **Bobby 4:35 pm**

Lalos ben tuggin on th leash and kpt mebusy can only wite wit one hnd

 **Ronnie-Anne 4:36 pm**

Don't worry, I'll get you home! Is there a street sign somewhere?

 **Bobby 4:37 pm**

brahm str

 **Ronnie-Anne 4:43 pm**

Okay, it's a little complicated, but if you follow that street southwest (that's where the sun is) there should eventually be a crossing with Main Street. Go left from there and after three more crossings go left again, then two times right. Follow the road until you pass a gym and then enter a little alley next to it. Once you're through that, you should be close to your high school. If you don't find your way home from there or have any trouble, text me

 **Bobby 4:45 pm**

gt it

 **Bobby 5:12 pm**

I did exactly as you told me, but I think something is wrong with your directions

 **Ronnie-Anne 5:12 pm**

Why?

 **Bobby 5:13 pm**

Well I'm halfway through and there is a sign next to me saying "you are leaving the city"

 **Ronnie-Anne 5:14 pm**

That can't be! Are you sure you went southwest from Brahm Street?

 **Bobby 5:14 pm**

Absolutely

 **Bobby 5:15 pm**

Except I wasn't at Brahm Street, but Abraham East. Did I write Brahm Street? Lalo made such a ruckus I probably made some typos. Is that a big problem?

 **Ronnie-Anne 5:16 pm**

BOBBY!

"It was almost seven until I finally managed to get him home" Ronnie-Anne sighed as Lincoln put his phone back in his pocket.

"I can relate. We once had to guide Leni home from one of her friend's houses." He rubbed his temples. "That turned into an all-nighter."

"Well, glad you got all your sisters back home from the mall without getting lost" Ronnie-Anne said with a grin. Interlacing her fingers she rested her chin on her hands. "Too bad you had to give your signed book to that scooter-lady though..."

Lincoln raised an eye-brow. "Why that? I got one from my parents anyway."

"Yeah, but then you could have had one to spare for, you know – a friend." She tilted her head a little, a big smile on her face.

Lincoln slapped his forehead. "You're right – that would have been the perfect birthday present for Clyde!"

Frowning, Ronnie-Anne rolled her eyes. "Getting a clue is definitely not one of your super-powers. Smell ya later, lame-o."


	22. The Crying Dame

Worried, Ronnie-Anne looked at her screen. One could think her laptop had frozen, for it only showed an image of Lincoln sitting absolutely still on his chair. Only the twitching of his eye indicated she wasn't looking at a picture of her friend. His face completely stiff, the smile on his it couldn't have looked any more forced if he tried.

After a while, Ronnie-Anne coughed into her fist. "So, um, how's it going at school?" she asked.

Snapping out of his trance Lincoln shook his head. "Good" he replied, trying not to look distressed. "There was this big math test last week, and it was really tough, but-"

He was interrupted by a cheerful jingle from outside his room.

 _"_ _Cheer up baby, don't you cry – no more tears it's cheer-up time!~_

 _Laugh with me and we will be – happy, happy, happy!~ "_

For a moment Lincoln froze again, only his eye twitching. "But I think I did well" he quickly said, his fake smile showing all of his teeth. "Lisa tutored me, and while she really puts the 'torture' in 'tutor', I'm confident all the learning will pay-"

 _"_ _Cheer up baby, don't you cry – no more tears it's cheer-up time!~_

 _Laugh with me and we will be – happy, happy, happy!~ "_

Gritting his teeth, Lincoln took in a deep breath. "…off."

Despite having a growing feeling of awkwardness in her stomach Ronnie-Anne kept smiling. "That's, um, good to hear. My uncle Carlos also offered to tutor me so…"

 _"_ _Cheer up baby, don't you cry, no more tears it's cheer-up time!~ "_

"…so I would be able to catch up faster with the rest of the class!" she shouted, trying to speak over the electronic singing voice.

Lincoln nodded, while his knee shook violently underneath the desk. "I guess it's tough to change to another school in the middle of the school year. How is it going-"

 _"_ _Cheer up baby, don't you cry~ "_

"OH COME ON!" he yelled. Sliding back in his chair he pulled on his white hair, his frozen smile turning into an angry frown. "Just let me finish _one_ sentence!"

"Everything alright?" Ronnie-Anne asked, casting a worried glance at her friend.

Immediately Lincoln turned back into an awkward statue. "Of course!" he replied, trying to sound convincing. "Why do you ask?"

She pointed at him through her webcam. "Because you kind of look like you're going insane."

Slouching his shoulders Lincoln sighed. "It's Lily's new toy. Ever since we gave it to her, she's been playing with it nonstop." Frustrated, he dropped his head onto the desk. "I really wish she would go back to playing with her blankie..."

Her elbow on the armrest of her chair, Ronnie-Anne leaned her chin against her hand. "I hear ya" she said, rolling her eyes up in an annoyance. "While it's nice to not be the youngest in the family anymore, Carlitos can be damn annoying sometimes."

Sitting up straight again, Lincoln looked a little puzzled at her. "He didn't seem like a difficult baby to me."

"Most of the time that's true. Maybe it's really more about me not being used to live with a baby." Rubbing her ear, she mumbled: "But when he starts crying, it feels like he is trying to blow up my eardrums…"

The scowl on her face lured a chuckle out of the brother of five younger sisters. "I can deal with noise from my little sisters – you should have been here when the twins were babies." The smile on his face turned back into a frown. "But this singing toy is a demon in the disguise of a friendly fox. Its obnoxious song has been going almost non-stop for three whole days now. Three. DAYS!" Underneath his desk he was clenching his fists, while he hissed sharply through his teeth. "We're not gonna have it though" he declared, raising his finger into the air. "My sisters and I already agreed that this cursed demon fox has to go!"

Tilting her head Ronnie-Anne looked skeptically at him. "Isn't that a bit extreme?"

 _"_ _Cheer up baby, don't you cry~ "_

"Screw that" she said as she heard the jingle from her speakers again. "Go and burn that thing to smithereens."

This time Ronnie-Anne's scowl didn't amuse, but scared Lincoln. "I don't think it's gonna have to be that drastic" he said, clearing his throat. "We'll just toss it into a far away dumpster – very, VERY far away! The most difficult part however will be to get it away from Lily."

"How are you gonna do that?"

"I actually already have a well-thought of plan prepared. I'll be showing it at the emergency sibling meeting that's appointed for later."

 _"_ _Cheer up baby, don't you cry – no more tears it's cheer-up time!~_

 _Laugh with me and we will be – happy, happy, happy!~ "_

"…Screw that. I'm calling the meeting right now!"

"Best of luck, lame-o" Ronnie-Anne said, saluting with two fingers. "And smell ya later!"


	23. Anti-Social

Humming to herself, Ronnie-Anne browsed through several websites on her laptop. In one window a karate video was running, while simultaneously she looked at pictures of newly released skateboards. Several news sites for video games were open as well, alongside a chat box with a conversation that had just ended. After writing good-bye to her friend she was about to close the chat box. The mouse cursor already hovered above the X in the corner when she paused for a moment. Looking at her contacts, she saw next to the greyed-out image of Lincoln that he had been offline for over a day.

"Huh, haven't heard from lame-o in a while" she said to herself, scratching her head. "Maybe something's wrong with his internet?" With a shrug she closed the chat box. She was about to look up some pics of the new Turbo-crusher board 9000X, when someone knocked on her door. "Come in!" she shouted, pausing her video.

The door opened. Raising both his arms into the air her cousin CJ entered her room. "Ronnie-Anne!" A happy grin on his face, he spoke with a very excited ring in his voice. "Aunt Maria just got home, and we all decided to go to the public swimming pool together! Do you want to go swimming too?"

Ronnie-Anne turned to her window. Though all she saw was a brick wall and a fire escape, it didn't look very hot outside. Since the air in the city was always kind of heavy though, a round of swimming might still be refreshing. Her gaze wandered to the numerous open windows on her laptop – nothing that couldn't wait a couple of hours. "Count me in!" she said with a smirk.

Yelling in excitement CJ turned around, shouting "Ronnie-Anne is coming too" as he ran down the hallway. After closing all programs on her computer Ronnie-Anne turned it off. "The internet sure is nice" she said as she leapt out of her hair, hands in the pocket of her hoodie. "But it can't beat spending time with your family."


	24. Snow Way Out

"Do you think y'all would have frozen to death?"

Turning up his mouth Lincoln threw an odd look at his friend. "You're kind of sounding like Lucy there."

Ronnie-Anne shrugged her shoulders. "Just saying. If Lana hadn't given her ticket to Flip, would they have found you guys covered in icicles once the snow had melted, your butts frozen to your seats?"

Remembering the cold inside Burpin' Burgers Lincoln shuddered. "I don't wanna imagine what could have happened!" he yelled, rubbing his shoulders. "Sitting inside an unheated room while being snowed in was bad enough already."

As he sat there with his arms wrapped around himself and his body shivering, Ronnie-Anne felt somewhat bad for him. "Sorry. Of course, I'm glad nothing happened to you guys."

Taking in a deep breath Lincoln relaxed. "It's okay. But to answer your question, I don't think we were in serious danger. While it was cold, we all were wearing our winter clothes, plus we were warming each other up. Even if we had stayed snowed in overnight, I doubt any of us would have kicked the bucket. All of us would probably have caught a really, really bad cold though."

Ronnie-Anne looked out of the window. A fine layer of snow was lying on rails of the fire escape outside her room. "Well so close before the holidays, that would still have sucked big time" she remarked, watching the snowflakes fall by her window.

Lincoln nodded. "Yeah, especially because all eleven of us would have been sick at the same time." Memories of the last "epidemic" in the Loud House caused him to shudder once more. "Just wait until flu season hits your family – and make sure you soup blasters aren't jammed."

Turning her head Ronnie-Anne looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"Never mind – you'll see four yourself, anyway."

Still not making sense of his words, Ronnie-Anne shook her head. "By the way, Flip only wanted the ticket so he could sell it, right?" she asked.

Lincoln nodded. "As far as I know, yes – at least I can't imagine him to be a fan or race cars or engines."

"Couldn't you just buy Lana the ticket back then?"

Scratching his chin Lincoln pondered for a moment. "That'd be nice, but I don't think we could afford that. He'll probably sell it for over a hundred bucks, it not much more."

"Is that Fletcher lady that big of a star?"

"According to Lana she is. Although rather young, she has won a lot of races and prizes already."

"Let me check." After clicking around on her computer she stared at the screen for a moment. Lincoln guessed she was looking at a website about her. After a while she whistled impressed. "Not bad. Can see why your little sis is looking up to her. If I were her age, she'd be my hero too."

"If you say so." With a proud grin Lincoln stuck out his chest. "But my hero is and will always be Ace Savvy!" he exclaimed, striking a super hero pose.

Ronnie-Anne raised an eyebrow. "You realize that you're admiring a comic figure?"

His pose slouched a little. "Well at least I don't have a crush on a fictional figure" he mumbled. "Lucy's got that weird obsession with that vampire from her books."

Ronnie-Anne chuckled. "Any of your other sisters who got an idol?"

Crossing his legs Lincoln put his arms behind his head. "Luna is obviously a big fan of Mick Swagger – I mean, that guy changed her life. Also, I think Lynn is admiring that famous boxer… what was his name again?"

"Muhammed Ali? Yeah, he was the greatest of them all. A cut above the rest!" Her eyes then went up and down the image of Lincoln on her laptop. "Speaking about above, you look a little taller than usual."

"That's because I'm sitting on a hot-water bottle" he said, rubbing his rump over the warm cushion on his chair. "My butt's still a little chilly. I think it even got some frostbites."

This time it was Ronnie-Anne who shuddered. "Things I didn't need to know. Well, I'll let you warm up some more – smell ya later, lame-o."


	25. Snow Way Down

Sipping on a mug of hot chocolate Lincoln was lying in the bed of his room in the McBrides' log cabin. Wrapped in his pajamas with the blanket pulled up to his belly his laptop was, true to its name, resting on his lap. After letting the warm cacao reside in his mouth for a while he swallowed, letting out a sigh of satisfaction. "And now that his dads know Clyde can take care of himself, we can finally have some fun in the snow" Lincoln finished as he put the mug on the night table.

On the screen of his computer Ronnie-Anne, also wearing her bed-clothes nodded. "Seriously, Clyde is like the most careful guy in the world. Why did his dads think they need to worry about him so much? He only gets in dangerous situations when you drag him into them."

Lincoln frowned. "Hey!"

"But it's true! By himself, he'd never take any risks. I remember how he once checked out the seats in the bus to make sure a spring wouldn't pop out when he sat down on it."

"That's because a few days earlier my sister Luan pranked him exactly that way..."

Ronnie-Anne giggled. "When I listen to your stories, I wonder if your place isn't actually much more dangerous than any old ski-ramp could be."

"It's definitely just as unsteady. We're all surprised it hasn't collapsed by now."

The two kids laughed. "So how long until you go back home?" she asked.

"Until tomorrow. We'll take one last ride down the mountains and slopes with our sleights before packing up and driving back to Royal Woods." His blanket slid a little down his belly as he took in a deep breath, before letting out a sigh. "It's nice getting home, but I wouldn't have minded staying one or two more days. I've started to get used to the quiet…"

"Well that'll be over once you're back home" Ronnie-Anne snickered. "What do you think your sisters are doing?"

"As you probably know Lori and Bobby are on that ski-trip…"

"Oh I know" Ronnie-Anne murmured, rolling her eyes.

Lincoln looked a little confused at her, but shrugged it off. "Luna went to that winter rock-festival with her roadie Chunk and some of her friends. She wrote an SMS that it's rocking, although since it's open air she regretted not to have packed thicker underwear. Lana and Lola are on a camping trip with the Bluebell scouts. Both of them got five new patches already, though none of them got the same. Lana couldn't knit a scarf, and Lola didn't manage the bear wrestling challenge."

Ronnie-Anne's eyes widened. "What?"

"Just kidding" he said, winking at her. "But she did fail the snowball fight patch. And Lynn is with her hockey team at the junior league finals in Montreal. They managed to get to the quarterfinals, but then their team got kicked out. She didn't play in that match though since she's been in a liiiittle fight with the referee."

"She wrote you all that?"

"No, but someone made a video of it and put it online. It even created a small hashtag-meme: 'Mercywiththereferee.' Apparently she and the rest of her team have to stay in Montreal until all diplomatic issues are solved.

"Yikes!"

"The rest of my family stayed home over the holidays, I think." Looking at the environment around Ronnie-Anne, Lincoln remarked: "You're not home either, are you?"

"Nope" she said, sliding with her chair a little to the side. The room looked similar to the one Lincoln was in, though it resembled more a hotel room than one in a log cabin. "After Bobby told them he was going on a ski-trip with Lori, my family decided to also book a winter vacation and surprised me with it."

"Nice!" A grin on his face Lincoln leaned a little closer to his screen. "So how is your first vacation with a big family going?"

Though she moaned Ronnie-Anne didn't look unhappy. "Chaotic, but fun. We're constantly arguing about where we should eat, where to go and what to do, but in the end we're all having a great time. I just wish I could snowboard a little more on the harder courses. Because Carlota is spending a lot of time in shopping centers, I'm quite often forced to watch over her younger siblings on the children's courses. And I have to keep a sharp eye on them, especially Carl. He constantly tries to sneak off to the expert courses – and actually managed to slip past me once."

"Sounds like you have quite some adventures behind you already." A yawn forced its way out of Lincoln's mouth. "But I think I'm gonna hit the mattress now. You can tell me when I'm back home tomorrow."

"Whatever you say. Tomorrow's gonna be my last day here too, by the way. If there is no big traffic jam, we'll be home in the evening."

"Then call me once you're back."

"Will do. Smell ya later, lam-"

Ronnie-Anne's signature goodbye-phrase was interrupted as the door to Lincoln's room opened. "Hey, Lincoln!" Clyde said as he entered, dressed in his pajamas. "I just wanted to say goodnight." As he saw the computer on his lap he curiously walked to his bed. "Are you video-chatting with Ronnie-Anne?" Leaning towards the screen he waved his hand at her. "Hi Ronnie-Anne!"

Ronnie-Anne waved back. "Hey Clyde."

"We were just about to say goodnight to each other" Lincoln told Clyde, who nodded.

"Then let's all get to bed" he suggested. "After all, we do need our eight hours of sleep, or else it will have negative consequences on our health."

Rolling her eyes, Ronnie-Anne mumbled: "How could anyone ever think this guy could get into reckless situations?"

With a chuckle, Lincoln was about to close his laptop. He stopped however when he and Clyde could hear a familiar female voice call out on Ronnie-Anne's end. "Ronnie-Anne, would you finish up please? I'd like to go to sleep." A blonde head then leaned into the screen. Lincoln's eyes nearly popped up when he recognized her. "Oh hi, Lincoln" Lori said, smiling at him. "And hi to you too, Clyde!"

Staring at the image of Lincoln's oldest sister Clyde blushed. "L-L-Lori?!" he stuttered. A stream of blood ran out of his nose, landing right on Lincoln's blanket, before he passed out on the mattress.

Looking at his unconscious friend and the paddle of blood he lay in, Lincoln shook his head. "Great, now I'll have to carry Clyde into his room and get a new blanket." With a look of confusion, he turned back to the screen. "What are you doing there, Lori?"

Ronnie-Anne sighed. "Turned out we booked the same hotel as Bobby and Lori. And because of an error with the reservations, I'm sharing a room with my cousin Carlota and your sister Lori." As Lincoln looked closer, he could see three beds in the room, someone lying in one of them. "Before Carlota went to bed, she and Lori have been talking nonstop for hours about boys, boy-bands and a thousand other things that nearly made me barf…"

"Don't talk like that about your future sister-in-law!" Lori said, furrowing her brows.

"Lori, why didn't you tell me you were with Ronnie-Anne's family?" Lincoln asked.

Lori shrugged. "I figured she'd tell you about it anyway." A wide grin suddenly appeared on her face. "Oh by the way, did you know that in her bag, she carries around the picture her aunt Frieda made of you two-"

Panicked, Ronnie-Anne pushed Lori out of the screen. "Anyway I gotta go to bed now, goodnightandsmellyalaterlame-o!"

 **AN: And that was the last episode of season 2! Not sure if I'm gonna continue this with season 3, so I'll tag this as completed.**

 **In any case, thank you for reading :)**


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